Crawlspace update for SS (and others who have asked): Spent about 90 minutes down there yesterday, nuking the mold that has sprouted since last week's sump pump failure and subsequent flood. As previously noted, late last week I removed the ruined insulation, so now we're ready for the insulation installers who will be coming by Monday afternoon. Since the crawlspace is dry and since I nuked the mold (hopefully it is indeed dead) I'll be able to start hauling our treasures back into the crawlspace starting on Tuesday of next week. So far the cost is $715 for a new sump pump and the new insulation will run another $500. We checked our homeowners insurance and because this was all caused by a sump pump failure, it is not covered by insurance. Zip. Nada. Nothing. But once our treasures are back in the crawlspace, we'll be able to get the carpet cleaners out to clean the basement carpeting. For those who don't remember, the carpet cleaners were supposed to clean the living and basement carpeting on the day of the flood. The did the living room, but, obviously, not the basement.

Chicago Marathon training update: After the 8 easy on Monday, did 7 X 400 at my gym (along with 1.5 miles before and after) on Tuesday, then today did about 10 easy at the gym using both the indoor track and the dreadmill (it was way too hot outside when I entered the gym, but today's rains have cooled things off). We're headed up to our place in northern Wisconsin tomorrow as we're going to replace our well-worn 1967 mobile home with a 2014 model. We'll be signing contracts on Friday as we got our financing plans in order earlier today. Friday morning before we head to the signing fiesta, hope to do about 6 on one of my routes using county blacktop roads up there. We'll be coming back on Saturday, but hope to either do a bike ride or do a short run (or both) on Sunday. If I can get in that Sunday run, I'll be over 30 for the week. The Hanson Beginners Plan I'm following claims I should be doing only 10 this week. Being 20 miles ahead of the plan is a good thing, eh?

Although you don't need to outrun the lion - just the person running next to you....

the site says

"The race is run on a game reserve and animals will be seen during the race. When running stay on the designated course and only use the official toilets if required. The course will be patrolled at all times and there will be armed rangers located around the course. A helicopter and Supercub light aircraft will be airborne until the last person finishes the race in order to monitor the movements of the larger species."

Although you don't need to outrun the lion - just the person running next to you....

the site says

"The race is run on a game reserve and animals will be seen during the race. When running stay on the designated course and only use the official toilets if required. The course will be patrolled at all times and there will be armed rangers located around the course. A helicopter and Supercub light aircraft will be airborne until the last person finishes the race in order to monitor the movements of the larger species."

When they refer to the larger species, I assume they are describing the tall, lanky brits joining in.

Although you don't need to outrun the lion - just the person running next to you....

the site says

"The race is run on a game reserve and animals will be seen during the race. When running stay on the designated course and only use the official toilets if required. The course will be patrolled at all times and there will be armed rangers located around the course. A helicopter and Supercub light aircraft will be airborne until the last person finishes the race in order to monitor the movements of the larger species."

If you are going to spend all of that hard earned pole dancing $ of yours, you need to run a real race. Put your big boy pants on and let's go do this:

Ran 8 with 4 at HMP this morning. HMP miles were 7:33, 7:24, 7:16, and 7:22. All over the place, again. Wore my Garmin HR monitor strap for the first time ever. HR during the HMP miles was in the mid 160s. Don't know if that's good or bad. Guess I'll have to do one of those awful max HR tests to find out. Not sure what use the data will truly be, but I suppose it's good to have. Anyone train by HR?

At least it was a good morning until I saw rd's latest contribution to the thread.

Started off the morning in the pool for 1100 yards. Since my race Saturday includes a 300 yard swim I thought I'd do a 300 yard time trial as part of my workout. I expected to hit 8:20-8:30 and came in at 7:45. That's still slow for swimming, but pretty good for me. Followed that with our Run Club workout. This AM the trainer decided to use his Army background and had us perform an Army fitness test. After a short warm-up we did as many push-ups as we could in 2 minutes, and then as many sit-ups as we could do in 2 minutes. We then hopped back on the TM and ran 3 miles, but captured our time after 2 miles. I ran the first 2 miles as 2x.75 miles @ 5K pace with .25 recovery, and then the last one easy. He set it up as a competition, with the overall winner getting a free PT session. He also applied some kind of age grading, which helped me since I was the oldest one in the group. From a raw numbers perspective I was last in push-ups and sit-ups, by far, but I finished second in the run. Some 20 year old beat me by 2 minutes. Needless to say, I didn't win the PT session, even with the age grading.

mdawg - I missed you! Nice work on the HMP miles, but ya it looks like you need to dial in the pace. I like to track my HR to see trends (improvements, unusual spikes, etc.) but I don't train by HR zones. I've always been intrigued by the idea of it. I've never done a formal max HR test, but use the peak I've reached in hard speed workouts. I've seen my HR cross 200 before, but I think those times were due to bad data. 193 is the max I currently use with 49 as my resting HR.

Ran 8 with 4 at HMP this morning. HMP miles were 7:33, 7:24, 7:16, and 7:22. All over the place, again. Wore my Garmin HR monitor strap for the first time ever. HR during the HMP miles was in the mid 160s. Don't know if that's good or bad. Guess I'll have to do one of those awful max HR tests to find out. Not sure what use the data will truly be, but I suppose it's good to have. Anyone train by HR?

I was wearing a HRM purely to get points in a corporate "wellness" program. During that time, I found that my HMP averaged 25-30 beats higher than my easy pace. You also have to consider some variables - heat and humidity, wind, elevation changes and how you are feeling. For example; TM, by HR was 10 beats higher for the HMP than outside simply because I was overheating.

So, I'd ask, what was your HR on the WU and CD miles (CD HR will be a bit higher than WU)?

I did HR training for a summer a few years back. I did the hamster test to figure out what the ranges where. I remember I had to keep all GA runs (so most MLRs and LRs) - below 145. That took some doing in the heat. Mid 160s would probably be where my HMP HR would be - if I start getting up to 170 - then I know I'm getting closer to the lactate threshold and I won't be able to maintain much longer.

JMH - your max HR is really that high ? I think my resting is around 40, but my max is low 180s. You must be a hummingbird !!

8 easy for me before work, now waiting to meet with my manager for my annual performance review. Cross your fingers for me…. then will take this afternoon off to cross my own fingers and hope that England don't stink it up against Uruguay, otherwise that'll be the end of the world cup for them. Maybe a few more miles later if I feel the need to blow off steam...

RA/RD/jmh: My paces and corresponding HR are below. My w/u miles are usually progression miles to get to the prescribed interval pace. My average HR was 154 and my max HR was 179. I ran this on my normal MP route which is slightly hilly. It's the flattest route I can find near my house, though. Normal summer weather at 5:30 am...70s and humid. As far as resting HR, it was 55 last night sitting on the couch while I was setting everything up on the Garmin. Maybe it's lower first thing in the morning.

During the HMP miles I was definitely working, but could've kept going after the 4 mile interval.

Popping in to say hello. Ran 6 rather easy miles today. Tomorrow is RD so I am doing to head to spin class, that's just about an RD. I haven't been to spin in a couple of years, I miss it. It will be fun to be back in the saddle at 5:45 AM.

I continue my streak of too much food and too little sleep, in fact I've stopped fighting it. I went to the county fair yesterday and they don't let you leave until you eat your quota. I don't think that final 5 pounds will leave this time, I enjoy food too much.

I will not be able to go to bed early, there's too much going on. It's summer!

Mdawg - I finally made it down to MP yesterday. HMP can't be that far away. Good work on your speed.

This morning I ran to the end of the block and walked home... just not feeling good at all. It didn't help that I didn't sleep well - DD1 is still sick and DD2 is a Ms Fussy Pants. So, looks like another USRD for me unless a miracle happens.

mdawg - I don't speed up during my WU (90 sec slower than HMP) until the last 1/10 of a mile or so (unless I'm doing strides before intervals). It's good that your HR stayed pretty flat during the tempo section. I monitored my HR at different paces and quickly found out what to expect on a typical day. Not sure of my max HR, probably high 170s. When I started running 11 or so years ago, I'd hit high 180s in a 5k. I'm usually in the mid to high 150s for a tempo run.

This morning I ran to the end of the block and walked home... just not feeling good at all. It didn't help that I didn't sleep well - DD1 is still sick and DD2 is a Ms Fussy Pants. So, looks like another USRD for me unless a miracle happens.

mdawg - I don't speed up during my WU (90 sec slower than HMP) until the last 1/10 of a mile or so (unless I'm doing strides before intervals). It's good that your HR stayed pretty flat during the tempo section. I monitored my HR at different paces and quickly found out what to expect on a typical day. Not sure of my max HR, probably high 170s. When I started running 11 or so years ago, I'd hit high 180s in a 5k. I'm usually in the mid to high 150s for a tempo run.

Badger - safe travels and have a great race.

We are hitting that time of year that I don't understand people posts. I had a great week with two fartlek's, a Michigan and some interval training. Um, ok. I'm going to just go run in the woods.

Go smoke 'em badger! I mean the competition, not the half pack of cigarettes...

Called an audible and slept in today for a one day taper for my race tomorrow. It's short for a tri, but will still take me about 52-55 minutes to complete (if I don't suck) so that's a pretty good race effort duration.

irun - spin class is a rest day?!?!? Maybe it has been too long since you took one, lol. Enjoy, and get some sleep! I've been fortunate and never had any problems with chafing with my HRM strap. I think genetics dictate max HR as much as anything. It obviously doesn't have anything to do with speed, since mine is so high.

ra - sorry about not feeling well. You have a lot of NRR stuff going on between the new baby and new job, and DD1 being sick.

maps - enjoy your day!

size12 - have fun in the Wisconsin woods, and good luck with the new trailer!

rd - I thought I saw the brits still had a chance to advance?

mdawg - yes, the steady rate of your HR throughout the HMP miles is a great sign, especially since your pace increased.

RD - better that hope dies in 5 hours time than knaws away at you for a week....... Congrats on the Under2o RWC win BTW

Badger - good luck and race well

JMHubba - i am liking HCS as I found the canned plan difficult as each week is "the same" (3x easy, 1 intervals, 1 tempo, 1 long) whereas the HCS mixes it up quite a bit. I used it for M2B and felt strong. DNS due to a groin injury (in a 5k hard stopping / jerking for a guy who did a 90 degree turn while changing songs on his mp3) but felt in nice shape. Good luck for the tri

Morning y'all! 7 easy at dark thirty again. Average pace was 9:05 and average HR was 138. It was a warm one. Already 76 degrees at 5:30 am in the ATL. Don't think I've mentioned that DH heads for 10 days of backpacking and camping fun in Alaska on Wednesday with 3 friends. I shall be quite busy prepping for the PRR and of course spending time at the pool while he is gone!

RD: Now I'm confused. I thought it was based on win/loss/tie. I need to go read the scoring system for the WC. Achilles still holding up? Are you in town Labor Day week when we're on our tour of Colorado? Would love to see you.

RA: Feel better...again. You can't seem to kick the crud with those two little germ incubators in the house. Is DW running yet?

RD: Now I'm confused. I thought it was based on win/loss/tie. I need to go read the scoring system for the WC. Achilles still holding up? Are you in town Labor Day week when we're on our tour of Colorado? Would love to see you.

Probably (here in town). I've just learned I'm expected to work over 4th July weekend, when I was planning on being in Aspen, so there's a chance of a switch. Where are you going to be staying ?

Badger - best of luck this weekend my friend. I have to tip my hat to you - I just ran 10, which gets me to 50 for the last 4 days. My legs are heavy and tired, and you're going to be running twice that amount in a day...

Dawg - it's on points, then goal-difference. England has 0 points (2 losses), but if they win the next game, and Italy wins the next 2 - then there will be 3 teams with 3 points, then it comes down to goal difference.

iRun - I hear you on that losing battle... I'll see your 5 lbs, and raise you 7...

RA - hope you feel better soon. It sucks being sick.

JMH - you won't suck !! Good luck to you tomorrow too !

SS - and you as well ! Big racing continent this weekend. You're far more up-to-date on the Rugby than I... I did watch the Crusaders game midweek. A running friend lives in Christchurch and was at the game - finally a win over some kind of kiwi team.

Morning y'all! 7 easy at dark thirty again. Average pace was 9:05 and average HR was 138. It was a warm one. Already 76 degrees at 5:30 am in the ATL. Don't think I've mentioned that DH heads for 10 days of backpacking and camping fun in Alaska on Wednesday with 3 friends. I shall be quite busy prepping for the PRR and of course spending time at the pool while he is gone!

RD: Now I'm confused. I thought it was based on win/loss/tie. I need to go read the scoring system for the WC. Achilles still holding up? Are you in town Labor Day week when we're on our tour of Colorado? Would love to see you.

RA: Feel better...again. You can't seem to kick the crud with those two little germ incubators in the house. Is DW running yet?

badger: Good luck to you too! Is DGF recovered enough to pace you any?

maps/RC/Irun: Hi!

Not sure what's wrong with me - just feel all out of whack. Mostly likely the root is lack of sleep. DW just started jogging on our TM - she was complaining at how slow she was...I can appreciate her frustration but reminded her she just had a baby.